In Turkey, once a criminal investigation targets a company or its executives, it is not only personal liberty that is at stake. The criminal justice system (under the Turkish Penal Code – TCK – and the Criminal Procedure Code – CMK) allows prosecutors and judges to freeze bank accounts, seize immovable properties, and even take management of the company away from its owners. For both Turkish and foreign business owners, this can mean a sudden and dramatic loss of control over their businesses.
Below is a practical overview of how this works and what it means in real life.
1. Legal Framework: TCK and CMK Working Together
Under the Turkish Penal Code, authorities can ultimately confiscate property and criminal proceeds (for example under the rules on confiscation of assets and gains). The Criminal Procedure Code (CMK) provides the procedural tools to get there:
- Seizure of assets and rights (including bank accounts and immovables), often based on CMK provisions on “el koyma”.
- Appointment of a trustee (kayyım) to manage or take over a company where serious offences are suspected and the company structure is allegedly being used as an instrument of crime.
These measures are usually ordered at the investigation stage, long before any conviction, based on “strong suspicion” supported by concrete evidence.
2. Freezing Company Bank Accounts
In a criminal investigation, prosecutors can ask the criminal judge of peace (sulh ceza hâkimi) for a decision to seize:
- Company bank accounts and safes,
- Other receivables and financial rights.
Once the decision is issued and notified to the banks, the accounts are effectively frozen:
- Incoming payments may still arrive, but
- Outgoing transfers or withdrawals are blocked, except where the court or prosecutor allows limited use (for example, essential wages or tax obligations in some cases).
This is very different from a civil enforcement attachment: in criminal seizure, the primary purpose is to preserve possible criminal proceeds and secure future confiscation, not to satisfy a particular creditor. As a result, a company can become unable to pay suppliers, employees, or lenders, even though no conviction has yet been handed down.
3. Seizure of Immovables and Other Assets
The same criminal seizure decision can also cover:
- Immovable properties (land, buildings, factories) registered in the land registry,
- Vehicles, machinery and valuable movable assets,
- Shares in other companies and similar rights.
For immovables, a seizure annotation is registered with the land registry. From that moment:
- The property cannot be sold, mortgaged, or otherwise transferred without dealing with the seizure.
- Potential buyers and banks see the annotation, making any transaction practically impossible.
For a business whose main assets are real estate or production equipment, such a seizure is economically paralysing: the company cannot restructure, refinance, or dispose of parts of its portfolio to survive the crisis.
4. Taking Over Management: Trustee Appointment (Kayyım)
In some cases, the law allows the appointment of a trustee to manage the company instead of its existing shareholders and directors. This is typically used where:
- There is strong suspicion that the company is being used as an instrument to commit crime (e.g. organised crime, money laundering, financing of terrorism), and
- Continuing current management is considered dangerous for public order or the integrity of the investigation.
Once a trustee is appointed:
- The company’s board and shareholders lose effective control over daily operations, bank accounts, and strategic decisions.
- The trustee acts in the name of the company but under court supervision, with duties to protect assets and prevent further criminal use of the structure.
For business owners, this is the most extreme form of control loss: they still legally own the company, but cannot manage it, access its funds, or decide on its business strategy.
5. What Can Business Owners Do?
While these measures are severe, they are not beyond challenge. Business owners (or their companies) can:
- Challenge the seizure decision
- File an objection before the competent criminal judge, arguing that the necessary legal conditions (strong suspicion, connection between asset and alleged crime, proportionality) are not met.
- Request partial lifting of seizure for specific accounts or amounts needed to pay wages, taxes or critical business costs.
- Challenge trustee appointment
- Argue that less intrusive measures (e.g. monitoring, reporting obligations) would be sufficient.
- Demonstrate that current management is cooperating, not obstructing the investigation, and that the company has compliance mechanisms in place.
- Document the lawful origin of funds and assets
- Provide contracts, invoices, tax filings, bank statements and internal records showing that seized assets are the result of legitimate commercial activity, not criminal proceeds.
- This is particularly important in cases where complex group structures or cross-border flows may appear suspicious at first glance.
- Develop a parallel strategy
- In many cases, the company may simultaneously face tax audits, regulatory proceedings and private lawsuits.
- A coherent defence strategy must balance protection of the company in the criminal file with maintaining operations and negotiating with creditors, employees and public authorities.
6. Practical Takeaways for Business Owners
For both Turkish and foreign business owners, the key lessons are:
- Asset freezing in criminal investigations is preventive, not purely punitive – but its economic impact can be devastating.
- Once bank accounts and immovables are seized, reaction time is critical; early and informed challenges can narrow the scope or duration of the measures.
- Strong internal compliance, transparent documentation and traceable financial flows are the best defence both before and after any investigation starts.
Ultimately, understanding how TCK and CMK tools operate in practice is essential to preserving as much control as possible over your company when facing a criminal investigation in Turkey.
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